Local Weather

City Engineer Outlines Florissant Weather Challenges This Year

The Florissant City Council heard a presentation from City Engineer Tim Barrett regarding weather related challenges facing the city at the council meeting Monday night.

Barrett said the city had taken an “aggressive approach to weather situations.” He cited as an example the power outages the city experienced a few years ago, which lasted several days for many residents. The city, he said, has since worked with Ameren to put a tree trimming plan in place. “We were one of the first communities with scheduled tree trimming,” he said. Trees are trimmed on a four year cycle.

The drought over the past summer presented a unique challenge to the city, Barrett said. He said that many residents had wondered about the bushes planted along Lindbergh, many of which died over the summer.

Barrett noted that the city planted 2200 bushes and 150 trees along Lindbergh. He said that after they were planted, there was not enough rain. Then, with the drought over the summer, many died.

Barrett said that the city was aware of the problem. He noted, however, that watering takes both time and money.

“It would take a city employee three days to water all those bushes,” he said. The city made the decision to use that employee time in other areas.

Barrett also said that money played a role. “It would be more expensive to water them that to replace them.” He added that like many homeowners, the city was trying to conserve water during the drought.

Councilman Pat Stinnett noted that the city has many Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) projects coming up in the near future. “What is in place to make sure they clean up and leave things like they started?” Stinnett asked.

Barrett answered that MSD uses contractors, and those contractors are bonded and responsible for leaving the site as they found it.

In other action, the council:

• Presented letters of appreciation to The Bridge and Florissant and Responder Rescue. Both groups recently held fundraisers for Florissant Police Officer Mike Vernon, who was injured in the line of duty.

• Postponed a resolution in support of the St. Louis County Library’s Proposition L on the November ballot. The proposition would allow a library tax increase.

• Passed a resolution authorizing a special use permit to Ballard’s Bar in Flower Valley Shopping Center allowing for a tavern.

• Approved a request by Chris Sanderson to keep a red fox in his home on Lilac.